Islamabad, Jan 9: After two freezing and terrifying nights, the sun finally came out in Murree on Sunday. Rescue operations resumed as officials confirmed that 22 people stuck in cars froze to death during the blizzard on January 7 in the popular tourist town.
The dead include mothers, young children, and friends, who were visiting Murree from areas such as Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Gujranwala, and Karachi. The bodies are being sent back home.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan government has imposed a temporary ban on the entry of tourists in Shogran, Naran and Kaghan amid heavy snowfall forecast by the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
So far, more than 2.5 feet of snowfall have been recorded in Shogran and the valley has been already overly crowded.
Deputy Commissioner Qasim Khan said the restrictions were imposed following the Murree tragedy.
The Met Office has forecast heavy snowfall in Murree, Galyat, Neelum Valley, Bagh, Haveli, Rawalakot, Naran, Kaghan, Hunza, Gilgit, Skardu, Astore, Chitral, Dir, Swat and Malam Jabba till Sunday afternoon.
In Islamabad, a red alert has been issued over “possible flooding” caused by rain forecast in the federal capital this week.
Personnel of the Pakistan Army, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), are removing snow from main roads from cranes and other heavy machinery. They said 90% of the roads have been cleared.
Nearly 371 tourists stranded in cars have been rescued and moved to camps and rest houses. They are being provided food, blankets, warm clothes, and other necessities.
According to the NDMA chairperson, the vehicles on the sides of the roads are empty.
The Met Office had, earlier, said that the weather in Murree will get better by Sunday afternoon and snowfall will stop which will help the rescue operations.
However, as the snow melts, expressways and highways heading to the hill station will become slippery increasing the chances of road accidents.
Murree was crowded this week after tourists headed there to witness an unusual snowfall, samaa reported.
Tourists tried to reach Murree by two roads leading from Rawalpindi — the old Rawalpindi-Murree Road and the Murree Expressway — and one from Abbottabad.
Reports of delays on all roads leading to Murree surfaced on Friday evening. The deaths were reported Saturday morning and first confirmed by Minister Sheikh Rasheed.
Rasheed said 23,000 cars were brought back on Saturday, while an operation was underway to rescue another 1,000 cars trapped in the snow. Heavy machinery has been called in to clear the roads as well, he said.
According to reports, this week, nearly 140,000 vehicles entered Murree. Hundreds of tourists spent Friday night on the roads. Local residents were out on the roads distributing warm clothes, blankets, and food to stranded tourists. However, help could not reach everyone and people began to die as blizzards buried their cars under several feet of snow.
The snowstorm was so severe that the government on Saturday sought “undeclared” help from the military and civil-armed forces to evacuate the tourists from the area as well. Consequently, Murree was declared calamity hit.
